Review Roundup - God of War II, Code Vein, and more!

[@Aaron-iy7rh]

I like this format, especially if it helps you manage your ADHD. It reminds me of the “Games You Might Not Have Tried” series from Extra Credits. While my favorites are still your longform lit analysis, if it’s easing your workload while still supporting your channel, I’d be happy to see more in this style.

[@n4k016]

Something worth mentioning - Anodyne does something I've never seen any other game do, where to 100% the game, you are required to make use of glitches to reach out of bounds regions. At 100% completion, you unlock the dev's debug room.

[@unap16]

Always appreciate your uploads and insightful commentaries. Also, loving the new hair style- very responsible grown up type.

[@SelectScreen]

I also recently tried out Anodyne as well, and similarly felt underwhelmed. It had been pitched to me as the gameplay from Zelda with the tone of Earthbound, and while I can see how that technically is true, it also set my expectations way too high. Still interested in checking out the sequel since it seems like a pretty significant departure, but I wish I had gone into the first game with more realistic expectations.

[@renaudmarshall9903]

Woo! More content from Games at Lit! I like this format a lot.

[@magnenoalex2]

Nice to hear from you again. Always good to see a new video

[@GameProf]

Thanks! There's more on the way! Been working through a lot of stuff, but hoping to get back to relatively regular uploads over the next few months.

[@GameLimbs]

It's fascinating how differently we can experience games. I played Anodyne a couple of years ago on recommendation from my brother. I'd recently forced myself through Night in the Woods which just felt like experiencing depression, which, you know, I can do that in real life, and was pretty disillusioned with games in general at the time. But playing Anodyne felt to me like a return to simpler games and a return to being able to appreciate games without feeling like i HAD to think so damn hard about what they MEAN (which NitW was very much guilty of for me), while both having a serious story and themes, and being self aware enough to kind of take the piss out of adventure game tropes to take the edge of its own formulaic nature. Plus the music and atmosphere are just brilliant!

[@TheMeccio]

I agree completely about gow2. I actually really liked gow1 because of the story being nuanced, the setting and kratos being an anti-hero, a villain with a motivation. Gow 2's kratos is just an a-hole. Thankfully the third does frame kratos better, while also being more spectacular

[@guccii_daddyy]

I think you truly missed the whole reason why Kratos is who he is in that game. Your mistaken

[@AnnaBerry590]

Nice to check back in on the channel and see you doing well. I didn't know about any of the games here except for God of War 2; while I disagree with your points, (other than the QTE's and platforming sections being a bit awkward) I enjoyed the video quite a lot. I like your format and more casual way of speaking, it's calming to listen to. I just wanted to say on the topic of GOW 2, I don't really think the game tries to justify what Kratos is doing at all. The whole story is based around his skewed perception, and the entire thing is told right from his perspective; he justifies his actions for himself, so of course, the game will come off that way. The killing innocent people is more of a show that he's so determined to get what he wants that he's willing to rip through anything to get it. The newest God of War does comment on a lot of this behaviour and show how he's changed because of it, so I'm excited to see you get around to that game and talk about what you think. Sucks that you didn't like GOW 2, but that's fine. I'm looking forward to more of your videos.

[@Omar8181]

Tgb made a great video on how the new gow makes the old ones better and how the old ones make the new one better that and gow 2 combat is just top notched

[@princessnikoblackwood4041]

Aviary Attorney looks absolutely amazing

[@charcoalangel7536]

I would like to hear your thoughts on Off someday! Maybe not as a review (seeing as it seems you've already played it) or as a game as lit vid but maybe a short video? idk I just really love Off.

[@GameProf]

You can get some of that, actually! The short-lived podcast with me and a few other gaming KZbinrs discussed it! kzbin.info/www/bejne/gWWUoYOao7-HsNk

[@DoNotPerceiveMePlz]

I don't know what explicitly inspired Anodyne but from what I've observed it's way more like Yume Nikki, with just a splash of Zelda. The Zelda aspect feels half baked at times but I still really like it.

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

I HAVE to check out Sagebrush, it looks 100% up my alley!

[@GameProf]

Oh it very much is! Absolutely give it a look, it's probably one of my favorite games of last year (for whatever that's worth considering how few of last years games I've actually gotten around to).

[@asurabg7052]

03:20 *cough* *cough* The Attendants of the Queen's Successors.

[@hiptydiptateejack8712]

Thing is David Jaffe had taken part in making God of War 1 but never did the other ones. As he puts it in the documentary called 'Twisted Metal: Dark Past' Kratos is not met to be a nice character. He's very much a testosterone, sort of a angry man who do terrible things and will take something if they want it. And, to be honest, I kinda miss these characters if because you rarely see them anymore. I never got why games need to be more 'mature' in the industry. I mean Lora Croft was already a strong woman long before the reboot its just that everyone got a little attached to her figure than really her action, fun side. I mean she literally punched a tyrannosaurus in one of the old video games. The new just feels like a glorified victim game, which isn't bad but she never has no real arc to go on after the first game or even during it. In short, I get what you're saying but I prefer the older games like God of War where you don't need a knee deep sort of character. The worst stunt you could pull as a writer is be boring. Judging by the reactions old Kratos gives to new players he never bores me. I mean there are journalists out there who think DMC (yes that DMC) is a underrated masterpiece because its talking down against capitalism despite being the most childish game I've ever seen in my years as a gamer. Mind you you're talking to a guy who laughs at fart humor.

[@stevenriften7561]

Journalist? There are no gaming "journalists". 😑

[@guccii_daddyy]

It’s funny you say Kratos wasn’t a “knee deep” character when actually he really really was

[@Erika-gn1tv]

So, between God of War II and Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, which one do you dislike the most?

[@GameProf]

Gonna have to go with Warrior Within on that one. I didn't love God of War to begin with, but Warrior Within trampled all over something I really love. Even if I think the actual quality comparison is a pretty close call. That's a very personal opinion, obvs, but yeah.

[@jamesmason3734]

Not giving a game an A+ based on the menu? What is this, a game review or a game review?

[@XX-de8jp]

I wonder if you will ever do an analysis of Life is Strange 2.

[@rebeccaconlon9743]

What was the developers issues with God of war 2, was it rushed? Etc

[@fjveca]

oh, if you didn't enjoyed God of War 2, then God of War 3 is not going to be your cup of tea, I still think 2 and 3 were a single story that was divided into 2 and padded accordingly, even while the 3rd game was incredibly impressive graphically when it debuted, the "ending" feels increidbly hollow for me, without spoiling anything, I can actually enjoy the visual spectacle but, yeah, feels like an edgelord idea of a revenge story and while I have not played the PS4 God of War, I have no idea how they plan to transition from that ending to the trialers from the PS4 one

[@TaurusOxford]

If you hate God of War 2 then do yourself a favor and don't even touch 3. Everything that you despise about kratos is turned up to 11 in 3 except for maybe the last 5 minutes. Just watch a story playthrough on KZbin and go straight to GoW 2018. Edit: I also say this as someone who loves this franchise and has platinum'd every game in it, just putting that out there before someone in the comments tries being a jackass and calls me a hater.

[@GameProf]

You're far from the only person to say this, but I've already played it and written the next roundup and I actually think the two are very, very different in their approach. I'll save my full thoughts for the video though!

[@hiptydiptateejack8712]

@@GameProf Cool

[@deathdoor]

Game professor? ... What you teach? Anyway, God of War 2 was directed by another person. Maybe it's a natural conclusion, what would happen if a person like Kratos became a god? He became totally insane.

[@guccii_daddyy]

God of war 2 was directed by the same person who makes the 2018 game

[@pelgervampireduck]

wait, god of war 2 was the classic? it thought it was going to be the modern AAA one...

[@GameProf]

The modern game is not my classic review, no. :P As I said in the video, I'm playing catch-up before finally getting around to Dad of War. I'll have thoughts on it once I get the review of III up!

[@pelgervampireduck]

to me anything after 16 bits is "modern" hehehe, I forget ps2 is supposed to be "old". well... I still think the 90s were like five years ago...

[@scrustle]

I like the old God of War games, but I can't really disagree with that assessment. I like the gameplay and the aesthetic and art and all that stuff, but Kratos is awful. Especially after the first game. For me the good outweighs the bad, but yeah, there's no denying it. I'd say if 1 and 2 didn't sway you, 3 s very unlikely to do so. It's kind of more of the same of 2, but with the production values bumped up. They improve the QTEs though to make them much more unobtrusive and easy to follow at least. Dad of War does a great job of building on the previous games though. It matures Kratos a whole lot and moves away from all the awful stuff, but in a way that doesn't forget it, and it very much informs what he has become in that game. I can't say if it's "worth it" if you don't enjoy all the old games, but they certainly do some good things with that previous context.

[@guccii_daddyy]

Did you miss the whole point in why Kratos was so fucked up this game?

[@MrEffectfilms]

Kratos isn't a good person and that's kinda the point. I don't know where you're getting the idea that the game treats him like a hero, it does treat him as larger than life but so what? Lots of characters regardless of morality are treated this way and it works just fine for Kratos. God of War might just not be for you.

[@GameProf]

II in particular just incredibly uncritical of his actions. The game frames his actions as cool, and even tried to make him seem justified, and never really depicts his horrific acts as being wrong. Just another cool thing he does. Maybe that does mean it's not for me. But that's all I can say in a review anyway; it didn't work for me, and I explained why.

[@MrEffectfilms]

@@GameProf Well I'll definitely be interested in what you think of the new one. I love the whole series but PS4 God of War is by far the best and seems to address the issues you seem to have with the others (not that I thought they needed addressing to begin with) so maybe that will be the one to grab you.